Equalizers are used in applications to extend reach and improve robustness of high-speed serial links for multiple rates and multiple protocols. Such high-speed serial links can include, for example, front-port, backplane, and chip-to-chip applications. The equalizer can be linear and preserve transmit signal characteristics. Each channel may operate independently, which allows the equalizer to support individual lane Forward Error Correction (FEC) pass-through. Many equalizers have manual boost settings that requires time and manual configuration. In other examples, such as adaptive equalizers, equalizer may be adapted during a training mode using a least mean squares approach; however, this relies on the presence of a recovered clock.